posted
Sergio Aragones was one of my fave cartoonists. Mad magazine went to shit after the publisher Gaines died though. There was no advertising in the magazines and they were printed basically in B&W except for the glossy full color covers to save dough I suppose. After he passed they decided that making bigger money was more important so in the 90s they had advertising and the whole magazine was printed in full color.
Kind of hard to do good satire poking fun at corporations, public figures, etc. if you are using them to make money for advertising. Writing went downhill as well seeming to go reaching for mainstream acceptance. Of course I haven't picked up one at a newsstand since the early 90s so I don't know if this all holds true.
quote:Originally posted by LeDaemon: Sergio Aragones was one of my fave cartoonists. Mad magazine went to shit after the publisher Gaines died though. There was no advertising in the magazines and they were printed basically in B&W except for the glossy full color covers to save dough I suppose. After he passed they decided that making bigger money was more important so in the 90s they had advertising and the whole magazine was printed in full color.
Kind of hard to do good satire poking fun at corporations, public figures, etc. if you are using them to make money for advertising. Writing went downhill as well seeming to go reaching for mainstream acceptance. Of course I haven't picked up one at a newsstand since the early 90s so I don't know if this all holds true.
Sorry for the little rant. I'll shaddup now!
I actually bought a few US copies a while back (they were from around 2000-2005) and they were pretty good....at least much better than MAD in Germany (yes, there is a German publication with German artists/authors). The German MAD was amazing in the 70s and 80s (because they had this great editor called Feuerstein) but after he left it turned to shit. The magazine was taken over by this idiotic TV-company called Super-RTL and the jokes just went to hell....every sense of sarcasm & irony was removed from the magazine. Maybe a similar situation to the time after Gaines left the US-MAD....!?!
quote:Originally posted by dougiezerts: In the 60's and 70's, MAD was indespensable. It's parodies of culture at the time was right on target. But now, it's become blase. Great comic!
Yeah, I remember having my mom buy me my first Mad before I could even read when I was like 5 years old. Then it was the Don Martin or Spy vs Spy cartoons that you didn't really have to be able to read that I liked. Would've been back in '72 or '73 I guess.
quote:Originally posted by LeDaemon: Sergio Aragones was one of my fave cartoonists. Mad magazine went to shit after the publisher Gaines died though. There was no advertising in the magazines and they were printed basically in B&W except for the glossy full color covers to save dough I suppose. After he passed they decided that making bigger money was more important so in the 90s they had advertising and the whole magazine was printed in full color.
Kind of hard to do good satire poking fun at corporations, public figures, etc. if you are using them to make money for advertising. Writing went downhill as well seeming to go reaching for mainstream acceptance. Of course I haven't picked up one at a newsstand since the early 90s so I don't know if this all holds true.
Sorry for the little rant. I'll shaddup now!
I agree it really went downhill in the mid `90s. It just seemed like they were rerunning old material and all the advertisements. Like you said it's kinda hard to lampoon companies and public figures when that's where your money's coming from. Cracked hasn't seemed much better since then either and the website seems like it's trying too hard to be something like GQ and Maxim instead of a humor site.
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I always had the latest issue of MAD growing up in the 60's & 70's. Some years Alfred E. Newman was the ornament that topped our Christmas tree. The decline of the mag was heartbreaking - I really miss it.
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